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Jbay76 (< 20)

Copper Fox delays, Market attacks

Recs

10

March 19, 2012 – Comments (7)

Fools,

On a day when copper is up and Copper Fox is taking a 15% haircut, I dug in to find the source of the matter.  Apparently, CPXF will be behind schedule for releasing its resource estimate for the Paramount and Liard zones at Schaft Creek, as you can read here.  The setback is a result of staffing problems by Tetra Tech, who is contracted to finish the mine plan.  Without a mine plan, the resource estimate can't be completed.  The new estiamted deadline is late summer of 2012.  

Correct me if I am wrong, but this seems like a fairly big setback for something that was supposed to be completed in 2 weeks.  I really don't know how this oversight could occur....insight anyone?  Would I be overly harsh to say that this is as much Tetra tech's fault as it is the fault of Copper Fox's upper management for nto sdtaygin on top of Tetra Tech?  It seems that way to me, but I am new in my business management training.

In the end, I'm sure they will overcome this obstacle, and sh*t happens all the time.  Copper fox is also the newest copper mine in an era when all the copper mines are nearing the end of their prime, so once Copper fox gets rolling, they're poised for real gains.  You migt be say, Damn Jbay this is a buying opportunity, and it could be.  But, my concern/post emphasis here is management's managing of contracts.  How does a staffing issue so close to a deadline finally become a factor?  How could this not have been apparent sooner?It isimportant to note that I am not atacking management here (though it may seem like that), but rather trying to understand how this oversight happens.

Cheers

J

7 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On March 19, 2012 at 10:36 AM, kdakota630 (31.51) wrote:

I feel lucky that I just happened to sell a bunch of my Copper Fox on Thursday.

Now I'm trying to decide if I want to buy in again today.  LOL! 

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#2) On March 19, 2012 at 12:49 PM, kdakota630 (31.51) wrote:

Looks like trading has been halted for a couple of hours now, too:

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/939647/iiroc-trading-halt-cuu

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#3) On March 19, 2012 at 1:29 PM, Jbay76 (< 20) wrote:

Hmmm.....I don't know if I should interpret this as good news or bad. 

In any case, I'd wait to get more shares as I suspect they'll drop more unfortunately.

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#4) On March 19, 2012 at 2:39 PM, kdakota630 (31.51) wrote:

Trading appears to have resumed.

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#5) On March 19, 2012 at 3:17 PM, kdakota630 (31.51) wrote:

...and rebounding nicely.

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#6) On March 20, 2012 at 12:29 AM, XMFSinchiruna (28.54) wrote:

JBay,

It's not the resource estimate that was delayed, but rather the feasibility study, of which the resource estimate forms but one component. That's wn important distinction.

I certainly did not view this as a significant setback by any stretch of the imagination. Mine engineering consultants are stretched to capacity, and Copper Fox is hardly alone in experiencing such a delay. If you look at the previous update, they worded it in such a way as to suggest a delay was imminent, so I found the market reaction very comical.

Can't fault Copper Fox on this.  They've responded appropriately here to a situation beyond their control. I've been discussing this topic lately with a number of execs, and all the consulting groups are beyond capacity with almost no availability of qualified professionals. The landscape for skilled labor, industrywide, has reached critical proportions.

What wasn't comical was that my purchase of shares today was retroactively reversed, with the only note from my broker indicating that the market maker made an error. Nothing gets under my skin faster than a reversed trade, and I intend to submit an inquiry through my broker.

Anyway, for anyone who was able to make and keep a transaction, today offered a happy entry. 

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#7) On March 20, 2012 at 9:37 AM, Jbay76 (< 20) wrote:

Sinch,

Thanks for the reply and the correction! I was hoping you would chime in.  I will admit that I did not read their previous update, though that woudl have been useful.  Its very interesting that the demand for consultants is at the point it is, yet the supply of consultants remains limited.

What are the execs of these mining companies doing about this?  Does anyone talk of collaborating with academia to develop programs that can help produce more qualified people for these tasks in hopes of developing more consultancy firms?  Is this bottleneck in talent going to persist? I would think that if this condition persists without the training of new blood, the industry may be in really hard times in the next decade or so?  Any thoughts about this?

That does suck about your order.  Good luck dealing with your broker.  Are you still with BofA?

In any case, thansk for sharing your expertise in this matter! 

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